Monkey Brain

I read something the other day that caught my interest:
"No matter how fast man may eventually travel with his massive monkey brain, he will need to acquire self-knowledge that will allow him to accommodate the horse-and-buggy pace of his alligator and rabbit brain compartments."
(excerpt from a self-published pamphlet by a man in our church)

A quick definition: (loosely) monkey brain refers to the highly evolved human thought process; rabbit brain is the emotional response system, and alligator is the pre-programmed ancestral experience.

This assertion resonated with me, both as an interesting idea for a story or follow-up kind of meditation (poem, etc.--whatever your fancy) but also as a theme that reoccurs often in science fiction.  We seem to have a handle on the concept, if not the act itself.  'Don't let technology get the better of you! 'we warn ourselves in episode after episode, movie after movie.  The idea behind the quote is not to let technology carry you away.  Don't get so pompous on your microbes and electrodes that you can't deal with the consequences.  And for humans, that means being able to allow the other parts of our brains to catch-up to what we've done.  Or better yet, keep those aspects in mind in the first place.
The movie Hollow Man first came to mind.  Scientists accidentally discovered a way to change the human structure and the result was ground-breaking...and terrifying.  This is almost quintessential sci-fi plot.
Delving a little more deeply though, I begin to understand the quote in a slightly different manner: No matter what you can figure out, you're always going to need to reconcile it with your more primitive parts.  Whatever you can imagine doesn't matter if the ancestral and emotional parts of your thinking can't grasp the concept too.  Is it a hindrance or a governor?  Think of fiction, of Heinlein and his Valentine Michael Smith who shut down to grok things.    Meditation, allowance, time--all these things to bring our parts in concordance.  When I feel my world spinning too fast, I will allow myself the time to take a minute.  My new mantra is, Wait up there, monkey brain!

Everybody's Doing It

So, everybody is blogging.  It seems the journal has taken on new dimension in blogging.  For me, I believe one of the best ways to become a better writer is, as with so many things, to practice.  And, also a personal preference, knowing essays are my weakest format, I'm going to become clearer and more concise here.  Ha-ha!  Fun for you.  ;)